Ravenel, Willis debate fiscal issues

GOP treasurer runoff candidates get personal

By JOHN O’CONNOR

johnoconnor@thestate.com

Once more, with feeling this time, the Republican candidates for treasurer met in a televised debate and the main focus was on qualifications — and desire — for the job.

Charleston developer Thomas Ravenel, 43, and Easley home builder Jeff Willis, 37, went back and forth for nearly an hour, touching on state financial issues, the record of Democratic incumbent Grady Patterson and whether candidates were seeking a springboard to a higher office.

The debate, sponsored by The State newspaper and ETV, precedes Tuesday’s runoff election between Ravenel, who finished first with 48 percent of the vote, and Willis, who came in fourth with 7 percent. Under state law, a candidate must win a majority of the vote to be elected.

Willis wound up in the runoff when second- and third-place finishers Greg Ryberg and Rick Quinn dropped out of the race among GOP in-fighting.

Unlike their first debate, this time the would-be treasurers lobbed some criticism at each other, with Willis questioning whether Ravenel would finish his four-year term or run for U.S. Senate in 2008.

The state needs a treasurer who will “take off their jacket, roll up their sleeves and work on these issues,” Willis said of items such as restoring the state’s AAA credit rating and keeping the retirement system solvent.

“That’s why this is a long-term problem and it’s one that’s going to require a long-term effort to solve.”

Ravenel finished third in a U.S. Senate bid in 2004, and he was asked if he planned to run against U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham in 2008. Three times Ravenel declined to give a yes or no answer.

“This is the 2006 treasurer’s debate, it’s not the 2010 governor’s debate, it’s not the 2008 senatorial debate,” Ravenel said. “I’m here to talk about what we can do to change the treasurer’s office and what we can do to better our state.”

Among those issues, Ravenel said, was restructuring government, a major difference in the two candidate’s positions.

Ravenel favors an appointed treasurer as part of a streamlined government, as pushed by Gov. Mark Sanford, while Willis believes an elected treasurer provides more independence and accountability.

Ravenel also said his priority would be to restore the state’s AAA bond rating, which would secure lower interest rates for taxpayers.

As former treasurer and now Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom had done before, Ravenel said, he would bring credit rating agencies to meet with lawmakers and prove they could put “their financial house in order.”

“This is how we’re going to save us again ... shortly thereafter our credit rating was restored.”

Willis said shoring up the state’s $30 billion retirement system would be his first priority.

“I don’t think until we clear up the retirement system we’ve got a chance on the bond rating,” he said.

The two also criticized Patterson. Ravenel said Patterson’s lack of communication with the governor and Legislature led to the bond rating downgrading. Willis said he admired the incumbent’s service but that his time had passed.

Tuesday’s winner will meet Patterson in November’s general election.

Reach O’Connor at (803) 771-8358.